How much weight can a Honda Pilot tow? This may not be the first question you ask when purchasing your vehicle. But as soon as you start thinking family road trips, we’ll bet you want to learn more!
When it comes to general specs, the Honda Pilot is a great vehicle. And when it comes to towing capacity, the Honda Pilot can be a beast. The Honda Pilot is designed to be a medium size SUV. It is packed full of adventures and fun and makes the perfect family road trip vehicle.
Apart from the regular SUV features, drivers of the Pilot can expect an exceptional towing capacity. But this towing capacity depends on the performance configurations and trim level.
When it comes to the features of the Pilot, it stands out from the crowded SUV market. The vehicle comes with a remarkable range of cargo volume. You get a storage capacity that lies somewhere between 83.8 and 109.2 cubic feet behind the first seat rows. The SUV also comes with 151.7 cubic feet of passenger volume.
The Honda Pilot is a family-oriented everyday vehicle with amazing capabilities. With this vehicle, you get a cabin that will make your life a whole lot easier.
For owners of this SUV, it is very important to know its towing capacity. Knowing what items you can tow with your Honda Pilot helps save you from a lot of problems. Apart from affecting the movement of the vehicle, overloading your Honda Pilot can affect its performance in the long term.
Overloading can lead to a lot of defects and damages to the vehicle. Since the Honda Pilot has been designed and engineered to perform optimally within a specified load capacity, all owners must work according to the recommended load limits.
How Much Weight Can a Honda Pilot Tow
How much weight can a Honda Pilot tow? This is a great question that helps us understand how much weight the Honda Pilot can tow. Many Honda Pilot owners often wonder about the towing capacity of their vehicles. The average Honda Pilot comes with a towing capacity of 3,500 pounds.
This capacity applies to the normal two-wheel drive (2WD) models. Also, upgraded trims offer a maximum tow capacity of 5,000 pounds. The All Wheel Drive (AWD) models also have the same capacity.
How Much Weight Can a Honda Pilot Hold?
The Honda Pilot is a car that can carry a lot of weight. This means you can take it on the toughest trips and get through any terrain. You don’t have to worry about the extra weight.
The Pilot’s suspension and materials make handling even the most challenging terrain easy. Plus, its fuel economy will never let you down. Honda Pilot can hold a payload capacity of 1,420 to 1,625 pounds.
The Honda Pilot Load Capacity
People are also curious about the load capacity of their Honda Pilot SUVs, that is, the most load the SUV can pull. You can easily calculate your Honda Pilot load capacity in multiple ways.
This is done by subtracting the vehicle’s curb weight from its GCVWR. The GCVWR is short for the vehicle’s Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating. This is defined as the total weight of a fully loaded Honda Pilot SUV plus the total weight of any attached trailer.
The Curb Weight of the Honda Pilot
The curb weight is an important parameter for understanding its load capacity. The Honda Pilot comes with a curb weight that lies between 3,982 and 4,321 pounds. The curb weight is also important because the choice of trim of the vehicle can affect the statistics.
The standard 2WD (Two-wheel drive) Honda Pilot is at the lower tier of the trim model. Its curb weight is approximately 3,982 pounds. The middle trim range of the Honda Pilot features the Ex All-Wheel-Drive edition. Its curb weight is approximately 4,176 pounds.
The Honda Pilot also has a special trim edition, which is the Special Edition All-Wheel-Drive, which has a curb weight of 4,255 pounds. Also, the trim choices of the Honda Pilot feature the Black Edition All-Wheel-Drive, which is at the heavy spectrum of this range. The Black Edition has a curb weight of approximately 4,321 pounds.
Honda Pilot Towing Capacity
The Honda Pilot’s towing capacity is sufficient to help you haul off basic items. If you want to get away for the weekend, the Honda Pilot is a great option.
With such a large cabin space and towing capacity, you can haul as many people and gear as you wish. This means that the vehicle allows you to come with your sports equipment, camping gear, family members, and friends.
An important feature of the Honda Pilot’s towing capacity is that it varies by model. Over the years, manufacturers usually adjust the towing capacities of subsequent models of certain product lines.
This is true for the Honda Pilot product line, as towing capacities vary across models. To better understand this, it is important to understand the chart for Honda Pilot towing capacity by model.
The Honda Pilot Towing Capacity Chart
| Model Year | Honda Pilot (Two-wheel drive) 2WD | Honda Pilot (Four-wheel drive) 4WD |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 – 2021 | 3,500 pounds | 5,000 pounds |
| 2016 – 2019 | 3,500 pounds | 5,000 pounds |
| 2012 – 2015 | 2,000 pounds | 4,500 pounds |
| 2009 – 2011 | 3,500 pounds | 4,500 pounds |
| 2003 – 2008 | 3,500 pounds (this applies to all types of trailers) | 4,500 pounds (this applies to all types of boat trailers) |
Some Important Features of the Honda Pilot
Apart from its obvious high load capacity, the Honda Pilot also boasts a wide range of features. These features have been engineered to enhance the Honda Pilot’s towing capacity further. This, in turn, helps to improve the general performance of the vehicle. Some common features of the SUV are:
1. The Eco Assist System: This feature continuously informs the user of the fuel usage level. This means that you can easily improve overall efficiency.
2. Intelligent Variable Torque Management AWD System: This special feature is used to improve the general towing capacity of the Honda Pilot. It is also used to provide excellent traction. This feature is also used to provide better control of the Honda Pilot, especially with all kinds of road conditions and weather.
3. Multi-Angle Rearview Camera with Guidelines: This distinct feature serves two important purposes. It is used to make trailer hitching to the Pilot very easy. Also, this feature can be used to make parallel parking safer and easier.
FAQs on the Honda Pilot Towing Capacity
The Honda Pilot comes with a great towing capacity. A typical Pilot SUV, when equipped properly, has a towing capacity of 3,500 pounds. The towing capacity for a Honda Pilot is usually between 3,500 and 5,000 pounds. This means that the SUV has the needed power and stamina to tow any items that are within this load capacity.
The Honda Pilot has a typical towing capacity of 3,500 pounds. Also, the towing capacity of the SUV can be increased. This can be increased by installing a towing package accessory from a Honda dealer. There are various available towing packages for the Pilot. They are the wiring harness, the towing kit, and a Class III hitch. The towing capacity for AWD models can be increased to 5,000 pounds. This can be achieved by installing an ATF cooler at a Honda dealer.
All Honda Pilot SUVs are great when it comes to towing objects. A majority of Pilot models are great vehicles for towing. However, the best model for towing is the Black 2022 edition. This is the best Honda Pilot that you can use for towing any object. It has a towing capacity of 5,000 pounds without any aftermarket upgrades. This is because it has been factory-built with the highest transmission and engine performance.
A Honda Pilot can pull a Recreational vehicle commonly known as a camper. But you will need a Pilot that has a towing capacity of about 5,000 pounds. This is enough to tow some types of RV campers.
You can haul a load of about 5,000 pounds when you install the Honda Automatic Transmission Cooler. It has to be paired according to the Honda AWD platform and installed by a dealer. The ATF cooler makes sure that the Honda Pilot does not get excessively hot.
Find more of our towing guides by make and model over here
If you’ll be hitting the road soon with your Honda Pilot, you may also be interested in our guide to the best Honda Pilot cargo carriers – another way to increase you carrying capacity if you’re not keen on towing.
And don’t forget to get your hands on our downloadable road trip packing list so you never miss an important item again.
© Family Road Trip